“If it is, it is a very early church indeed, built in the frontier zone at a time of major social and cultural change,” the project's director, Professor Ian Haynes of Newcastle University, told The Huffington Post in an email. “So we have a site with very important evidence for Jupiter worship, where subsequently we have evidence for an early Christian community.”

The fort secured the Cumbrian coast from northern raiders and served as a supply depot, according to the Senhouse Roman Museum, which displays artifacts found on the Maryport sites. In fact, the fort and settlement were likely established in the second century and endured into the fourth century, Haynes said.